Charles Kelman

Charles David Kelman (May 23, 1930June 1, 2004) was an American ophthalmologist, surgeon, inventor, jazz musician, entertainer, and Broadway producer.

Known as the father of phacoemulsification, he developed many of the medical devices, instruments, implant lenses and techniques used in cataract surgery.

Charles David Kelman was born on May 23, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York, to Eva and David Kelman.

He grew up in East New York before the family moved to Forest Hills, Queens.

His father was a Jewish immigrant from Greece who never received the proper compensation and recognition for his inventions, including the first tar-free cigarettes and cellophane Christmas wreaths.

He inspired his son's desire to proudly seek recognition of his own inventions.

Charles began playing music at four years old, when he learned to play his first instrument, the harmonica.

He began playing regularly for The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour radio show.

Kelman also learned to play the saxophone and clarinet, receiving professional training from musicians in the big band era.

While attending Forest Hills High School, he played in the high school band and as the first clarinet of the New York All-City Orchestra.

He dreamed of stardom in music, however, he said that, when he was 17 years old, his father told him to bring his saxophone to the basement of their house and play for him.

Charles played a song by Jimmy Dorsey after which his father asked if he had played as well as Dorsey.

When Charles admitted he had not, his father announced: "You'll be a doctor."

Kelman attended Boston's Tufts University and graduated in just two years to earn a B.S. degree in 1950.

He then studied medicine at the University of Geneva and, after learning that his father was diagnosed with cancer, accelerated his studies with the hope of having his father see him becoming a doctor.

He obtained his M.D. degree in 1956, but not before his father's death the year before.

After interning at Kings County Hospital, he did his residency at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.

In the early 1960s, he began the use of cryosurgery to remove cataracts and repair retinal detachments.

In 1960, Kelman started an ophthalmology private practice and began to experiment with the use of cryosurgery.

His first invention in 1962 was the cryoprobe which he used to freeze a cataractous lens before removal in intracapsular cataract extraction (ICCE), which removed the lens with the capsule intact.

In 1963, Kelman then developed the use of cryopexy to treat retinal detachment.

In 1964, he applied for a research grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation to further investigate freezing techniques in eye surgery and, in an addendum to the application, proposed "a method for removing a cataract through an incision small enough so that no hospitalization will be required."

He received a three-year grant from the foundation.

The idea for his next invention came to Kelman after seeing an ultrasonic device at his dentist's office.

After inventing phacoemulsification, in part to promote the procedure, he began appearing regularly on television, first on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1975.

He developed a musical comedy routine which he performed on television as well as in Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and Carnegie Hall in New York, alongside several notable jazz musicians and entertainers.

He co-produced several Broadway musicals and wrote at least two off-Broadway musicals.

Cryosurgery for cataracts remained in heavy use until 1978, when phacoemulsification, a procedure Kelman also developed in 1967, became the modern standard treatment.

Kelman was given the National Medal of Technology by President George H. W. Bush and recognized as the Ophthalmologist of the Century by the International Congress of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in Montreal, Canada.

While the technique has not been in heavy use since 1978 and the advent of other techniques such as extracapsular cataract surgery (ECCE) which Kelman helped develop, ICCE remains a viable surgical option.

He was also inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, and received the 2004 Lasker Award.

Born in New York, Kelman graduated from Tufts University and earned his medical degree from University of Geneva before returning to New York to intern at Kings County Hospital and complete his residency at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.

He was later an attending surgeon at the Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, and maintained a private practice.

Kelman served as clinical professor of ophthalmology at New York Medical College and individually taught his techniques to many surgeons around the world.

Kelman pursued a career as an entertainer alongside his medical career.

He began playing the harmonica at a young age and performed on a radio show, The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour.

He later learned to play the clarinet and saxophone.

As a teenager, he formed a big band, began composing music, and played in his high school band and as first clarinet on the New York All-City Orchestra.

While in medical school in Geneva, he appeared on two jazz radio shows and one on television.

After returning to New York, he recorded a song, "Telephone Numbers", released by Chancellor Records to some success in national billboard charts.